Water Environment Federation to participate in 2005 World Water Week

ALEXANDRIA, VA, Aug. 3, 2005 -- The Water Environment Federation (WEF) announced yesterday it's pleased to be an active participant in the upcoming World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, which takes place Aug. 21-27, and will be a global gathering of leading experts from the business, civil society, governmental, inter-governmental, science and water management sectors.

WEF will co-convene the Stockholm Water Symposium workshop, "Tailoring Sanitation Solutions to Reach the Millennium Development Goals."

The lack of controlled water and sanitation among a rapid increasing population continues to result in a perpetually deteriorating situation with heavy pollution and water shortage. In order to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), alternative system solutions for water supply and sanitation will have to be identified and discussed relative to the concept of sustainability as defined by different criteria that a system needs to satisfy. Also, a tripling of today's level of investment in sanitation will be needed in order to reach the stated target of halving by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to basic sanitation.

What are the critical hard and soft components for successful sustainable solutions under different climatic and economic circumstances? The%age of people who are poor in south Asia, east Asia and the Pacific islands decreases in combination with improved coverage of water and sanitation. What are the key factors and how could they be understood, accepted and translated to Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and other parts of the developing world and give hope for global achievement of the MDGs? The importance of sustained economic growth, reliable revenue base and transparent and balanced regulations as thinkable driving forces for improving water and sanitation will be discussed. Involvement of local competence for implementation of solutions will be of primary interest.

The workshop will focus on successful cases, from the developing world specifically, in different scales and climatic contexts and also in combination with local agriculture fed by recycling of grey water. Papers covering technological issues, system and institutional aspects, political and socio-economic issues are welcome.

In addition, World Water Week will host the 2005 international Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition. In the United States, WEF and its member associations organize the national, state and regional SJWP competitions with support from the ITT Industries (also the international sponsor), the Coca-Cola Company, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Office of Research and Development. Internationally, HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is patron of the prize.

Organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (www.siwi.org), the World Water Week in Stockholm is the leading annual global meeting place for the world's diverse water community. Visit www.worldwaterweek.org for the complete program or to join the official mailing list for continuing information.

Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (www.wef.org) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 76 member associations in 30 countries.

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